STAR POWER AT CANNES: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was clearly courting the creative talent attending Cannes by trying to relate to their love of art, reports The Wall Street Journal’s CMO Today. She connected her favorite glass artist to the native ads movement. But mostly, Ms. Mayer talked about Tumblr as a venue for great brand creativity–while subtly sending the message that banner ads are not good for that very thing. Later on, Yahoo announced that Tumblr ads are coming to Yahoo sites. Elsewhere, Facebook pitched its message to advertisers on why it’s the perfect platform for creativity and branding. Mark D’Arcy, the company’s chief creative officer, told WSJ’s CMO Today that in the early days of Facebook “we only offered very small ads; there was no real creative canvas.” Now: “Methodically and relentlessly we went on to build far richer and better canvasses to tell stories.” On the wining and dining front, AOL and Starcom MediaVest held two competing swanky dinners on Monday night on the beach. AOL’s party wrapped up at a suite at the Majestic as a crowd gathered to watch team USA beat Ghana. While the setting was beautiful, AOL’s dinner was served so late that some attendees snuck out for pizza.

IT’S NOT ALL FINE FRENCH WINE: Some marketers go to actually learn a thing or two at Cannes too, you know. And to talk about the big challenges facing the ad industry, reports WSJ’s CMO Today. “It’s the same as it has always been: ‘Have we got a really big idea that will get people to notice what we are doing?’” said Bruce McColl, chief marketing officer at Mars. Added McColl about the influx of ad tech companies at Cannes: “It brings to light some areas that might not be on your radar.”

CANNES IS A CASH MACHINE: CMO Today has the rundown: Tickets start at $2,890 and submitting a TV spot costs over $1,000 (while entry for one of the hottest awards, the Titanium & Integrated Lions, is almost double). Via the 47,500 award entries alone, the festival generated around $38 million. Ad agencies say the expenses are worth it. “A gold winning piece at Cannes is damn good advertising,” said Jordan Henner, director of creative performance at Ogilvy & Mather.

WHAT VIACOM’S BLACKOUT COULD MEAN FOR CABLE CHANNELS: For years cable channels have been the biggest profit engine for large U.S. entertainment companies, courtesy of a business model that’s hard to beat. Channels get per-subscriber fees for every household in which the channels are available, regardless of how many people actually watch. But that model is showing signs of stress. For the past two months Viacom Inc.’s channels, such as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, have been off the cable lineup of about 60 small operators serving about 900,000 customers in total. While blackouts typically produce big defections, that’s not happening in this case, where less than 2% of the subscribers have disconnected, WSJ reports. “Quite frankly, I can’t say that I did notice,” says one subscriber. As a result, the blackout looks to be permanent. The immediate financial impact on Viacom is sure to be negligible but the dispute portends a longer term shift towards less-than-full distribution of channels, depending on viewer demand. Given that subscription fees continue to grow fast, that could erode the profitability of channels and their owners.

AMERICANS CAN’T GET ENOUGH WORLD CUP: Monday’s World Cup thriller between the U.S. and Ghana drew 15.8 million viewers between the two networks carrying the game, ESPN and Univision, WSJ reports. That set World Cup records for both channels. It’s not the NFL quite yet (NBC’s Sunday Night Football averaged 22 million viewers last year), but advertisers can’t ignore soccer. And they aren’t. TV ad dollars for the sport have jumped 43% since the last World Cup, from $265 million to $378 million, according to Nielsen. The U.S. may have won its first game in dramatic fashion, but if the Red, White and Blue can become a formidable international team, expect the ad dollars to climb even more.

BIG MAC, BIGGER CHALLENGES: McDonald’s will receive the “creative marketer of the year” award at Cannes this year, but the fast food giant faces a bevy of challenges, like lagging U.S. sales and a creepy new “Happy Meal” mascot that did not go over well on social media. It might come as a relief to marketers that even McDonald’s — long a celebrated advertiser — struggles to deal with the digital challenges facing the industry at large. “The trends are fairly clear and for us are very similar to many other large, consumer-facing businesses,” said Steve Easterbrook, global chief brand officer, in an interview with CMO Today. “There is a noticeable shift from the traditional high-spend category, which is TV, and in particular toward what we’d broadly call ‘digital,’ whether that’s through mobile or through Internet. It’s a measured switch, so it’s not hugely dramatic but it has been the trend now for a number of years.”

Comments (1 of 1)

Marissa Mayer was portrayed as the Messiah when she took over, but now it's clear that she is no more able to fix Yahoo's flaws than was her predecessor. In order to justify the astronomical salaries they pay these CEOs, though, you've got to assume they are somehow different from the rest of entreprenurial America. In reality, their success is generally more happenstance than skill. A good company makes a lot of money, and they get the credit. A bad company does not, but they still get paid the high salary if they can convince you that they will make everything right.

About CMO Today

CMO Today is an offering from The Wall Street Journal, helping marketing executives discern who and what matters in marketing today. Contact our editors with news items, comments and questions at CMOToday@WSJ.com.